


Little Red

by verawrites



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, Wolf Zayn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-13
Updated: 2013-01-13
Packaged: 2017-11-25 07:51:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/636717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verawrites/pseuds/verawrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“The old folks in my village warned us not to tell any strangers in the woods our names lest  they turn out to be tricksters and we unknowingly be bound to them.”</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“Old folks tell you this? Sweet little thing, those are simply old campfire tales told to scare the children into staying home once night falls. Are you a child, little red?”</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Little Red

**Author's Note:**

> A dark, thrilling little take on Little Red Riding Hood. An expansion is currently being worked on right now.

There was a flutter of a red hooded cape as a boy ran through the woods, his eyes wide with fear as he dodged between the tall, ominous trees and low lying branches. Panting hard, he clutched at his chest as he breathed heavily.  
  
He couldn’t stop running. Not now. Not if he wanted to live.  
  
A howl ripped through the night.  
  
 _“Hello there, little red. Are you lost?”_  
  
 _The boy shuffled_ _ _awkwardly_ , staring at his feet nervously as he blushed. The man before him was just so dark and rugged. So full of mystery. So.. Hauntingly _beautiful _._  
  
 _“Not really, I’m just a little.. Disoriented? I- I know my way around here.”_  
  
 _The man smirked, tilting his head to the side._  
  
 _“Really now? Then why have you been walking around in circles, little one?”_  
  
 _Blinking, the boy looked up._  
  
 _“Have- have you been watching me?”_  
  
 _Chuckling, brown eyes flashed at him as the man replied._  
  
 _“How could I not when such a sweet young one like you comes wandering into the woods while I’m walking through them as well? So.. What is your name, little red?”_  
  
 _“The old folks in my village warned us not to tell any strangers in the woods our names lest they turn out to be tricksters and we unknowingly be bound to them.”_  
  
 _Shaking his head, the man slowly walked closer to the boy, eyes trained on the slightly stiff figure._  
  
 _“Old folks tell you this? Sweet little thing, those are simply old campfire tales told to scare the children into staying at home once night falls. Are you a child, little red?”_  
  
 _Furiously shaking his head, the boy frowned, slightly indignant._  
  
 _“I am not a child! I just turned of age last autumn!”_  
  
 _“So you are eighteen autumns old, little red? I would never have guessed with you being so small and obedient.”_  
  
 _“I am not small and obedient! And stop calling me that! My name is Niall! Niall of the Horan family!”_  
  
 _There was a sharp flash of white as the man grinned, eyes glinting in the sunlight filtering through the tree tops._  
  
 _“Niall Horan..? What a pleasure it is to know your name, little red. My name is Zayn. Zayn Malik.”_  
  
Tripping over a thick tree root, Niall fell heavily to the ground with a thump, gasping when he felt a vine slowly started to wrap itself around his ankle. Scrambling to get the twisting vine to release him, Niall stiffened when he heard the sound of the leaves of a nearby bush rustling. Holding his breath, he squeezed his eyes shut as a figure burst through the shade.  
  
 _“I’m telling you, Nialler! I saw him for real this time! It wasn’t a dream! He was in my room talking to me! I swear it!”_  
  
 _Rolling his eyes, Niall carried on packing away the sheets of leather as he listened to Louis rambling on about the mysterious boy that he had been seeing in his dreams as of late._  
  
 _Niall knew that he should be worried, what with the tales of young men and women being whisked away by creatures of night, captivated to follow their enchanters into the woods and never be seen or heard of again. But how could he when Louis’ dreams clearly made him so happy? Surely something that made Louis smile so widely would never bring him to harm.._  
  
 _Right?_  
  
 _“Niall! You’re not listening!”_  
  
 _Snorting, Niall thumped Louis on the top of his head with a bit of rolled up leather, a mocking frown on his face._  
  
 _“Yes, yes, I heard all about your curly haired, green eyed boy that_ has to be a prince _trying to lead you into your dream love nest. Now can you please help me sort out the rest of the leather before Simon comes back? I’d very much prefer it if he paid us in full this time.”_  
  
 _Louis pouted at the blonde before huffing._  
  
 _“Fine, but don’t be surprised if I decide to leave without you soon, Niall. Harry told me that I could take you along with me because his friend Zayn wants to have a partner too.”_  
  
 _Freezing, Niall slowly turned to look at Louis._  
  
 _“Za- Zayn? How do you know that name?”_  
  
 _Laughing, Louis grinned._  
  
 _“I told you that Harry told me so, silly!”_  
  
 _Before Niall could further press the issue, Louis had turned away and started sorting through the leathers once more._  
  
Holding back the urge to scream, Niall flinched back as he heard the sound of trotting against the wooded ground. Looking up, he gave a sigh of relief when he saw that it was nothing but a handsome stag pawing nervously at the ground for a moment before loping away, eyes wary of the human on the ground.  
  
Niall’s relief was short lived when he realised that the vine around his ankle had begun tightening even more. Reaching for the dagger hidden in his boot, Niall tore through the vine with a grunt and pulled himself free. Standing up, Niall cocked his head to the side as he tried to listen to his surroundings.  
  
But there was nothing but the deafening silence.  
  
 _Niall was treading through the woods again to deliver some supplies to his grandmother._  
  
 _The woods were getting a more sinister reputation day by day and his father had deemed it no longer safe for his mother to visit his grandmother and therefore entrusted the job to Niall. Every time before he left, his mother would wind a soft cotton hooded cape of red around his shoulders, tying the strings tight._  
  
 _“To ward the evil ones.”_  
  
 _She had said._  
  
 _“To find your body quicker should you disappear one day.”_  
  
 _Said his father._  
  
 _Niall was trekking through the woods, nervously humming an old rhyme his mother used to sing to him when he was a child, sticking to the path instead of veering off course like he had the other day._  
  
 _The day that he had met that stranger, Zayn._  
  
 _It wasn’t like Niall had been constantly thinking about Zayn after their encounter. It wasn’t like he couldn’t stop thinking about that sharp, angular jaw and his beautiful brown eyes. No, it wasn’t like that at all. It was just.._  
  
 _There was just something different about Zayn that constantly drew Niall’s thoughts to him. He was just so mysterious, so breathtaking beautiful that it was almost_ unnatural _._  
  
 _So_ enchanting _._  
  
 _“So, my little red is actually sticking to the path today.”_  
  
 _Stopping in his tracks, Niall turned to the source of the voice and watched as the familiar figure of Zayn slid from around the shadowed trees, lips quirked at the side in a smirk. Swallowing, Niall stuttered out._  
  
 _“Ye- Yeah. Thought it would be safer.”_  
  
 _Nodding, Zayn stared at Niall, eyes tracing the contours of his body with hooded eyes before resting on his face._  
  
 _“Well, only a fool would believe that any part of the woods are actually truly safe.”_  
  
 _“Are you calling me a fool?”_  
  
 _“Not at all. Just a very.. Obedient child, that’s all.”_  
  
 _Niall frowned._  
  
 _“Why do you insist on calling me a child? I can’t be that much younger than you.”_  
  
 _“Ah, but you see, little red, my kind does not age as quickly as you do. At least, our bodies don’t.”_  
  
 _Eyes widening at Zayn’s statement, Niall clutched at the satchel in his hands in a tight grip._  
  
 _“Wha- What do you mean_ your kind _..?”_  
  
 _Grinning wolfishly, Zayn replied._  
  
 _“I’m sure that you’ve heard tales of the Lycanthrope from your elders, have you not?”_  
  
 _Fumbling with his satchel in shock, Niall slowly backed away._  
  
 _“Ly- lycanthrope? No.. You can’t be! They- They aren’t real! Because if they are.. Then that must mean- Since I told you my name- No.. No, this can’t be real!”_  
  
 _“Are they now? And why can’t they be real, Niall?”_  
  
 _Shaking as he watched Zayn slowly making his way towards him, Niall made a rash decision of doing what he should never do in the presence of a predator._  
  
 _He ran._  
  
Niall licked his chapped lips as he strained to hear a sound, anything that would signal if he was finally safe or still in danger. When the silence continued on, he felt himself slowly start to relax.  
  
Maybe his pursuer had finally given up.  
  
 _Days after Niall’s second encounter with Zayn, the blonde awoke to the sound of shouts in the village. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he paused when he heard the frantic shouts of people calling out for Louis’ name._  
  
 _No.. Not Louis._  
  
 _Rushing to put himself right, Niall barrelled out of his house to the sight of the members of the Tomlinson household running about the village, crying out Louis’ name in earnest, trying to get him to come of whatever hiding place he could have been hiding in, refusing to believe that Louis had been whisked away. Enchanted to the woods._  
  
 _But Niall knew better._  
  
 _That night, after crying himself to sleep, mourning the loss of his best friend, Niall dreamed of a grinning Louis in the arms of the taller, protective form of whom Niall could only guess to be Harry. In the background, he could see the familiar form of Zayn, hand outstretched in silent invitation, eyes dark with the promise of something Niall never dreamed that he could have._  
  
 _The scariest part of the dream was how Niall had the strangest longing to join them._  
  
Scanning the area around him, Niall carefully took in his surroundings, hands fisted nervously in the fabric of his red cape, freezing once his wary blue eyes met feral brown ones in the distance.  
  
He had been found.  
  
 _Niall was soon haunted by the same dream every night, this time featuring only a silent Zayn, and each time the darker male seemed to be coming even closer towards him._  
  
 _To say that Niall was being frightened out of his wits was an understatement._  
  
 _Every night, Niall had tried to force himself to stay awake, not wanting to see that handsome face again. Somehow he had managed to convince his older brother to take his place in making the weekly supplies delivery their grandmother, albeit a little guiltily._  
  
 _Later, when he found that he could no longer avoid sleep, he had visited the village mystic, Danielle, hoping to get a dreamless draught to cure his problems._  
  
 _Instead, he got so much more than that._  
  
 _At one glance from her, Danielle dropped the bowl of poultice she had been mixing with a gasp._  
  
 _“You- You bear the mark.. The mark of a claimed!”_  
  
 _Niall had stopped in the doorway, the blood draining from his face as Danielle quickly ushered him into her home, hastily shutting and bolting the door behind them._  
  
 _“The mark of a claimed? What do you mean, Danielle? What do you see?!”_  
  
 _Shaking her head, Danielle reached out a hand and traced the skin of Niall’s collarbone, grazing the skin with the tips of her fingers before pulling away with a gasp._  
  
 _“Oh Niall, you didn’t.. You told him your name, didn’t you?”_  
  
 _“I- I didn’t know. He tricked me!”_  
  
 _“Tricked or not, you’ve already been bound to him. He knows your name, and not only that, he knows your scent. It won’t be long till he tracks you down.”_  
  
 _Shivering at the revelation, Niall’s face crumpled._  
  
 _“Wha- what do I do, Danielle? Tell me, what can I do? He keeps calling to me in my dreams-”_  
  
 _“He’s already visiting you in your dreams? Oh Niall, there’s nothing I_ can _do. If he’s already invading your dreams, it means that he isn’t very far and he knows where you are.”_  
  
“Hello little red. You’re certainly a slippery little thing, aren’t you?”  
  
 _Niall had gone to Danielle’s husband, the blacksmith Liam, pleading with him to help fashion him a weapon that he could carry with him everywhere. Something that he could protect himself with. Something he could use to ward off attackers._  
  
Lycanthrope _attackers._  
  
 _When Liam had heard his request, he had already seemed prepared, pulling out a small dagger he had fashioned out of silver and melded with ground wolfsbane when he had been making it. Niall had tried to pay the blacksmith with what little he had, because silver was so precious in those times, but Liam had declined the request, eyes soft with the need to protect the younger blonde._  
  
 _“I couldn’t stop Louis from being lured away, but I will be damned if I do not help stop you from being whisked away too.”_  
  
Niall held the dagger in front of him, eyes wide with fear and hands shaking as he clutched at the hilt for dear life.  
  
“Why can’t you just leave me alone? You know that I don’t want to leave with you! I’ve been refusing you every single night for the past few weeks and still you persist. Why? _Why do you have to pick me?_ ”  
  
“But dear Niall, it wasn’t _me_ that picked you. Oh no.. It was _the Sun and the Moon_. Can’t you feel it?”  
  
“Fee- feel what?”  
  
“The connection between us. We’re _mates_.”  
  
 _Niall had been shaken awake by his mother a few nights after receiving the dagger from Liam, her lips trembling as she spoke._  
  
 _“Niall, wake up! I need your help! There are wolves circling around the village. Large wolves! The elders say that they are the Lycanthrope and they are looking for blood.”_  
  
 _Niall felt the blood in his veins freeze at his mother’s words._  
  
 _“Are they- are they attacking the villagers?”_  
  
 _“No, not yet. But still, I want you to go to your grandmother’s to make sure that she is safe. She needs to be protected! Please, Niall! I know that you are scared, but there’s no other way! Your brother has been called to the borders of the village to stand guard against the wolves and there is no one else!”_  
  
 _Swallowing, Niall nodded and started to change into his travelling clothes, slipping his dagger into his boot and arming himself with a wooden pole. His mother stepped forward and tied the cloak around his shoulders._  
  
 _“To protect you.”_  
  
 _She had whispered._  
  
 _Niall had slipped out through the back way of the village, hands clenched tightly onto the wooden pole as he carefully picked his way through the woods in the dark, eyes wide and wary as he kept a look out for any wolves._  
  
 _It was about an hour into his trek through the woods did he heard the sound of a twig snapping in the quiet stillness._  
  
 _Niall had turned around and spotted the dark form of a large wolf, eyes glinting and teeth sharp. Stiffening, Niall arranged himself into a defensive stance, pole poised to strike._  
  
 _“I- I’m not afraid of you.”_  
  
 _Niall could practically hear the wolf snort in disbelief, before it dashed forward, jaws open and snarling. Gasping, Niall was pushed back as the wolf snapped at the pole, powerful jaws gripping the wood._  
  
 _Crying out, Niall tried to pull the pole out the wolf’s mouth, panicking with every unsuccessful attempt. After struggling for a few more moments, the ominous sound of the wood groaning and snapping echoed through the woods and Niall stood stock still for a moment, eyes wide with the two parts of the pole held uselessly in his hands._  
  
 _The wolf seemed to smirk before slowly stepping forward, licking its sharp teeth as it advanced towards Niall. Panicking, Niall struck out at the beast, hitting it over its head with the broken poles before tossing the ruined pole aside and running, ignoring the pained whimper that morphed into a warning growl._  
  
 _Niall never once turned back as he blindly ran deeper into the thick of the woods._  
  
“Ma- mates? How is that even possible? You _lie!_ ”  
  
“Believe what you want, little red, but it’s the truth. You feel it too, don’t you?”  
  
“Tha- that’s because you tricked me into telling you my name! You enchanted me, didn’t you?”  
  
“I never tricked you, Niall. You offered it to me willingly, and your name is useless to me unless the threads of fate have already been woven between us. No spell would be able to forcibly bind you to me, little red.”  
  
Stepping forward, Zayn reached for Niall, fingers grazing the skin of the trembling blonde’s cheekbones.  
  
“Sweet little thing.. Why deny something that you cannot change?”  
  
Shaking from head to toe, Niall slapped Zayn’s hand away and attempted to slash at him. The soft expression on Zayn’s face hardened as he growled, the bones of his face shifting before Niall’s eyes as he knocked the dagger from Niall’s grip. Gasping, Niall started to move back, feet clumsy and unsteady.  
  
“Naughty little red.”  
  
Whimpering, Niall foolishly attempted to run, only to be pushed against the trunk of a tree, face scratching against the rough bark.  
  
“You shouldn’t have tried to run, Niall.”  
  
Squeezing his eyes shut, Niall tried not to cry as he felt Zayn press himself flush against his back, nosing against the juncture of his neck, sniffing at him with a contented hum.  
  
“Good boy, now don’t you move. This won’t hurt ..”  
  
Niall shivered as he felt Zayn lick at his skin before pulling away.  
  
“.. _much._ ”  
  
Zayn sank his fangs into his neck as Niall screamed into the woods.

**Author's Note:**

> You can also check my other stuff out here: <http://worded-imagination.tumblr.com/>


End file.
